I've certainly always tried to approach everything I do with enthusiasm and passion, no matter what it is. That was instilled in me at a very early age.

I also believe there are forces at play in this world that cannot be defined or explained, but which bring likeminded people together. The latest such instance of that for me started with an email I received from Farr Ramsahoye, owner of Visionary Fitness, who had been following my fitness journey. Farr reached out to me to see if I would consider doing two sessions of training with him.

Included in his email were video links to clips of the types of training he specializes in. To be completely honest, they looked intense. While I was slightly intimidated with what I saw, I have always taken the approach that I'll try anything once. I arranged to meet Farr for a movement assessment and agreed to two training sessions in a week, which he felt was necessary.

Farr and his two trainers, Michael Smith and Justin Switzer-Wilson, rent space at 247 Fitness Solutions on Gardiners Road (behind Boston Pizza) to train their growing list of clients.

The assessment was a great chance for me to tell Farr about my training history, health, eating and goals. Years of fluctuating weight, playing ball, wear and tear and simply the aging process have left me with a number of minor chronic injuries, none of which are debilitating enough to stop me from doing anything, but are hindrances nonetheless.

Off the top, I listed minor arthritis in my knees, patellar tendonitis in my knees, some tendonitis in my elbows, an at times troublesome herniated disc and some lower back pain (recent), as well as a shoulder impingement.

Farr, a hulking man himself, kept notes as I went over my various aches and pains. By they way, writing out my many physical woes makes me wonder if someone out there has a Jan Murphy voodoo doll they didn't tell me about.

Farr then explained how he could help me with the things that plague me physically. He explained how my vertebral column was sustaining a lot of compressional forces due to poor imbalances within my musculoskeletal system and primal movement patterns. That's the professional, kind assessment. In short, my form sucks.

Farr also inspired me, before we'd even started our first workout no less, to confess a goal I have had in my mind for some time. That goal, I confessed, is to be able to participate in a pro wrestling match at my annual charity show (this year, on Dec. 2 and featuring Ricky The Dragon Steamboat) next year and not feel self-conscious taking my shirt off in the ring in front of hundreds of people to do so. I love pro wrestling and I love charity, so I'd have my one and only match in the name of raising money.

Honestly, when I confessed this goal to Farr, his eyes lit up like he'd just awoken on Christmas morning and walked into a living room brimming with shiny new toys. If I had to point to the exact moment I knew Farr and I would be more than trainer/client, it came right there. I love passion. I respect passion. I'm drawn to passion.

Our first workout focused on upper body. Using the assessment he had with me days earlier, Farr customized a program that I would describe as intensely challenging. No, I wasn't running eight kilometres, pushing out 200-pound bench presses or doing chin-ups, but rather I was working on finding proper form and awakening parts of my body that have gone dormant or out of alignment.

After a brief warmup, in which I discovered that I had no ability to manipulate my lower back and hips (sigh, my twerking days will never be), Farr set out to give me some stability in my back.

The first set was geared toward helping strengthen my back. First up was the standing barbell press pattern with landmine. That was followed by prone rows, high plank hold and finally reverse monster walk with bands. Bands. You'll read a lot about bands from here on out. Farr uses resistance bands like I use wrestling lingo. But, as he explained, they're great for attaining stability and strength, and tearing out leg hairs! We did three sets of each of these.

We finished off with a second tri-set of single-arm bottoms-up presses with the kettlebell, cobra lat single-arm pulldown and lateral steps with, you guessed it, the resistance band. (PS: I now look like I just shaved my knee hair).

I cannot emphasize enough that while none of these pushed me to my limits or left me gasping for air, they did challenge me in ways I'm not sure I've ever been challenged. The kettlebell press, for example, saw me basically pressing the kettlebell one arm at a time, fighting the stability of trying to press something that was really, really unstable, slowly and methodically. The pulldowns were hitting areas I didn't know I had, and the band, well, besides giving me a great waxless hair removal, really challenged me as I worked through my assignment.

I kept marvelling at Farr's absolute love, even obsession (I think he'd be OK with me calling it that) with what he does. Every time I achieved the desired form he sought, or finished a set, he smiled, often high-fiving me.

We ended our first training session with more talk about why Farr is determined to help me overcome some of my poor form and habits.

Session 2, I was promised, would focus on lower body. Boy, did it ever. As I sit here typing, my glutes, the backs of my legs and in and around my hips and lower back area are sore and fatigued. A good sore, to be clear.

Farr promised to focus on the lumbo-pelvic hip complex rhythm, which he said is key to spinal health and function. Our warmup was designed to release tension in my lumbar by targeting the hip and thoracic spine mobility. In short, twerking might one day be possible. I kid. Or do I?

Our first set comprised Romanian deadlift progression for my glutes, hamstrings and back.

This one was impossible for me to do properly the first time Farr and I trained. I simply lacked the ability to straighten my back fully. We practised it a couple of times. This time, I crushed it. From my first rep, Farr's jaw dropped. He took photos. After one training session, I'd seen immediate improvement.

Its difficulty was later increased by adding the band to the equation. And not the musical kind. We then went to bird dog on a yoga block for deep spinal and core muscle activation. This one was particularly challenging and truly showed me how out of alignment my entire body is. We then hit the stability ball for hip extensions with the (you know what's coming right?) band around my knee, because I hadn't yet lost all of my leg hair. It also helps with glute strengthening, Farr said. We hit three rounds of each before moving on.

Next up was what Farr calls a Zercher squat with box squat protocol. In lay terms, I was learning to sit with proper form. Surprisingly, it's not that easy. The Poloff Press was next, which was using cables with, yep, a band, to add resistance as I did some slow and methodical presses. Air bike was the first of any cardio I'd done in three meetings with Farr. What a great device. Three sets of each finished off our day, and week.

I've certainly left workouts and training sessions far more exhausted than I was either time with Farr. But, as he explained to me, that would have been easy for him to do. He could have put me through my paces and sent me away to write about how hard he worked me.

Instead, Farr took the time to learn about me, my needs and my issues. And he set out to help me correct that. In my case, Farr needed to start me out slowly, so we can correct some of the fundamentals. He promised that if he were training me long-term, there would be workouts one day that would leave me begging for mercy. But in due time.

Farr's genuine love for training -- he confessed to studying his craft even on his own wedding day -- is second to none. His enthusiasm and passion are absolutely contagious. It's very difficult to not to get caught up in it.

One could even call it Visionary.

Visionary Fitness can be reached via email at visionaryfitness4u@gmail.com or by calling or texting 613-449-8348.

Jan Murphy is the news and features editor at the Whig-Standard. If you have a workout or fitness challenge you'd like him to try, whatever that may be, email him at jmurphy@postmedia.com.